DOCSLIB.ORG

Writing Science in Plain English - Course Outline

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Writing Science in Plain English - Course Outline WRITING SCIENCE IN PLAIN ENGLISH - COURSE OUTLINE This course will explore Writing Science in Plain English. At VOA Learning English, we regularly simplify science and technology stories from other news organizations for learners of English. We use a 1500-word basic vocabulary guide, which is available online at http://docs.voanews.eu/en-US-LEARN/2014/02/15/7f8de955- 596b-437c-ba40-a68ed754c348.pdf Based on our experiences, we believe that writing about science online should be: • Brief - Gets to the point: think of how long you'd want to read a text on your phones or mobile devices. • Clear: avoid jargon, local expressions, and long or complex sentences • Accurate: Remember that it's easy for any reader online to check your facts and sources instantly. • Visual: Paint a picture. Take the audience there. One example: to describe gravitational waves-- write about a rock hitting a pond, with ripples moving outward from where the rock hit the surface. • On Level: aim at the general public - assume a 10th grade education This session we will focus on writing factual science articles. That means you will not be writing about your opinions. We will look at these elements of writing about science in this session: 1. Structure of science writing 2. The language of science writing 3. The process of science writing Part One: Structure of writing Science writing is similar to journalism, academic writing, and other forms of writing. In journalism an article has three main parts: Lede/Lead, also know as thesis in academic writing: Basic facts: "Five Ws" of journalism: Who, What, When, Where, and Why and a sixth one: How as needed. Use an anecdote, a small story that readers can relate to. Supporting paragraphs Additional details Quotes from sources Statistics Background information Conclusion or Ending What is the one point do you want readers to remember? Sometimes a summary of the main point of the story appears here. An example from a VOA LE article: Amazing Amazon Hides Atlantic's Coral Reef http://m.learningenglish.voanews.com/a/amazing-amazon-hides-coral- reef/3314107.html Lede: Scientists studying the area where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean were in for a surprise. Under the muddy, dark Amazon River water was a large number of undiscovered reefs with colorful sea fans, coral plants, fish and very big sponges. It was one of the biggest surprises in modern ocean science. Most ocean reefs need sunlight to exist. Who: Scientists Where: Mouth of the Amazon River What: Newly discovered reefs Why: Reef grows without sunlight Supporting paragraphs: Details: On their boat that day in 2012, [answers "When?"] they carried a hand-drawn map that suggested maybe a large set of reefs sat just below them. Brazilian scientist Rodrigo Moura of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, brought the map. He had read about the possible reefs in a 1977 research paper. Quotes: Yager says she was surprised to find coral reefs below the dark muddy water. “You can’t look down and see them like other reefs, they’re quite deep. And then on top of that, the water, the surface layer of the water is very dark and turbid, so yeah, you can’t see them from the surface, that’s why we didn’t know they were there.” Conclusion But the Amazon reefs face their own threats. Companies want to drill for oil near the reefs. If they go forward, Yager warns, those large-scale operations could damage the reefs. It's a good technique to leave the readers/listeners with something at the end to think about. Part Two: Language of Science Writing Use the active voice where possible Active voice: But the Amazon reefs face their own threats. Companies want to drill for oil near the reefs. (VOA Learning English version) Passive Voice: Along with the discovery of the reef, researchers also found evidence suggesting this Amazonian jewel may already be threatened. "From ocean acidification and ocean warming to plans for offshore oil exploration right on top of these new discoveries, the whole system is at risk from human impacts," Yager said. (From a CNN report on the same topic) Passive sentences often sound boring and may leave out information. Writers use the passive voice when it is not clear who did an action: The fish was caught this morning. Use simple sentence structure CNN News version: A recent report from ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies showed that 90% of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia is suffering from coral bleaching, which is caused by changes in ocean conditions such as temperature, light or nutrition. VOA Learning English original version: News about the reef comes when there is more bad news about the problems of coral bleaching in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Scientists warn the bleaching is due to warming waters, and it is very damaging to the coral. Use visual images We have talked about the Amazon Reef story. Here are some extra details I added to create a visual picture for the reader: On their boat that day in 2012, they carried a hand-drawn map that suggested maybe a large set of reefs sat just below them….He lowered a dredging machine into the muddy water. Oceanographer Patricia Yager was there too. With others, she leaned over the boat’s edge, waiting to see what Moura would bring up from the bottom. They did not expect much. The team was studying the area where the Amazon River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Where these waters meet, the world’s largest river moves out across the top of the ocean, spreading out like a fan. I used words “dark and muddy water” throughout the story. Here are some visual images I used in another story, one about gravitational waves. What are gravitational waves? It turns out they are something the brilliant scientist Albert Einstein thought existed, but had not proved. My job was first to understand what they are, and then find the best way to explain them. I created a picture –a visual-- for our audience: Gravitational Waves Detected, Einstein Is Right http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/eistein-is-proven-right/3188629.html The idea was that the waves are like ripples in space, caused by some of the violent and energetic processes in the Universe. For example, two black holes crashing into each other. What are these gravitational waves? Well, imagine throwing a rock into a pond. When the rock hits the flat surface of the water, it creates ripples or waves. Spacetime is like the surface of the water. So that means gravitational waves are like the ripples moving out from where the rock hits the water. Keep paragraphs short Each paragraph should have one idea. Write one or two sentences per paragraph. VOA Learning English version: She says in the areas that get less light, the living creatures are less dependent on photosynthesis. News release: http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/new-reef-system-at-mouth-of- amazon-river-0416/ "The paper is not just about the reef itself, but about how the reef community changes as you travel north along the shelf break, in response to how much light it gets seasonally by the movement of the plume," said Yager, who spent two months in Brazil as a Science Without Borders visiting professor. "In the far south, it gets more light exposure, so many of the animals are more typical reef corals and things that photosynthesize for food. But as you move north, many of those become less abundant, and the reef transitions to sponges and other reef builders that are likely growing on the food that the river plume delivers. So the two systems are intricately linked." Eliminate unnecessary words Go back after writing and see if you can make your sentence shorter by getting rid of extra words. Example: VOA Learning English The reefs run from the French Guiana border to Brazil’s Maranhao state, covering about 9,500 square kilometers. Original Science magazine report: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/advances/2/4/e1501252.full An extensive carbonate reef system of ~9500 km2, spanning from 5°N to 1°S and 44° to 51°W, was recorded between the Brazil–French Guiana border and Maranhão State, Brazil (Fig. 1). Rhodolith beds and higher-relief structures were recorded across a relatively long (~1000 km) and narrow (~50 km) stretch in the outer shelf and upper slope, in depths ranging from 30 m to the shelf break at 90 to 120 m. This extensive submerged carbonate system extends from French Guiana southward to the Manuel Luis reef, the northernmost emerging reef within the Brazilian Biogeographic Province. Part Three: Sources for Science Stories Evaluating Resources When deciding what story to write about, the first thing to decide is if it a credible story. Go beyond the headline. Sometimes they are written to draw people in, but the actual study might not be as important as it sounds in that first sentence. Some questions to consider: • Is it about a new study? • Look at the source—who did the study? Is it a credible institution or university? • How large was the study? Who did it? • Credibility counts—by whom and how the study was conducted is important. A large study by Harvard University carries more importance than a small study, on less people, by a lesser-known organization. • Always use more than one source on a science story. Don’t just take your information from one article. Interviews - get scientists to talk in plain English Scientists are paid paid to speak in complicated sentences.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Umberto Diego Rodrigues De Oliveira.Pdf
    UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL RURAL DE PERNAMBUCO DEPARTAMENTO DE BIOLOGIA PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM ECOLOGIA Umberto Diego Rodrigues de Oliveira Modelagem de nicho ecológico e distribuição de dois corais endêmicos do Brasil RECIFE – PE, Julho de 2019 ii UMBERTO DIEGO RODRIGUES DE OLIVEIRA Modelagem de nicho ecológico e distribuição de dois corais endêmicos do Brasil Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, da Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (PPGE/UFRPE), como parte dos requisitos obrigatórios para obtenção do título de Mestre em Ecologia. Linha de pesquisa: Ecologia de ecossistemas marinhos Orientador: Dr. Carlos Daniel Pérez RECIFE – PE, Julho de 2019 iii Dados Internacionais de Catalogação na Publicação (CIP) Sistema Integrado de Bibliotecas da UFRPE Biblioteca Central, Recife-PE, Brasil O48m Oliveira, Umberto Diego Rodrigues de Modelagem de nicho ecológico e distribuição de dois corais endêmicos do Brasil / Umberto Diego Rodrigues de Oliveira. – 2019. 113 f. : il. Orientador: Carlos Daniel Pérez. Coorientadoras: Viviane Lúcia dos Santos Almeida de Melo. Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Recife, BR- PE, 2019. Inclui referências e apêndice(s). 1. Species Distribution Models 2. Maxent 3. AUC 4. Cnidária 5. Corais - Brasil I. Pérez, Carlos Daniel, orient. II. Título CDD 574.5 iv UMBERTO DIEGO RODRIGUES DE OLIVEIRA Modelagem de nicho ecológico e distribuição de dois corais endêmicos do Brasil Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, da Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (PPGE/UFRPE), como parte dos requisitos obrigatórios para obtenção do título de Mestre em Ecologia. BANCA EXAMINADORA _________________________________________________________________________ Prof. Dr. Carlos Daniel Pérez – UFPE Presidente da banca e orientador Profª.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1810.00224V2 [Q-Bio.PE] 7 Dec 2020 Humanity Is Increasingly Influencing Global Environments [195]
    A Survey of Biodiversity Informatics: Concepts, Practices, and Challenges Luiz M. R. Gadelha Jr.1* Pedro C. de Siracusa1 Artur Ziviani1 Eduardo Couto Dalcin2 Helen Michelle Affe2 Marinez Ferreira de Siqueira2 Luís Alexandre Estevão da Silva2 Douglas A. Augusto3 Eduardo Krempser3 Marcia Chame3 Raquel Lopes Costa4 Pedro Milet Meirelles5 and Fabiano Thompson6 1National Laboratory for Scientific Computing, Petrópolis, Brazil 2Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany 2Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 3Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 4National Institute of Cancer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 5Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil 6Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Abstract The unprecedented size of the human population, along with its associated economic activities, have an ever increasing impact on global environments. Across the world, countries are concerned about the growing resource consumption and the capacity of ecosystems to provide them. To effectively conserve biodiversity, it is essential to make indicators and knowledge openly available to decision-makers in ways that they can effectively use them. The development and deployment of mechanisms to produce these indicators depend on having access to trustworthy data from field surveys and automated sensors, biological collections, molec- ular data, and historic academic literature. The transformation of this raw data into synthesized information that is fit for use requires going through many refinement steps. The methodologies and techniques used to manage and analyze this data comprise an area often called biodiversity informatics (or e-Biodiversity). Bio- diversity data follows a life cycle consisting of planning, collection, certification, description, preservation, discovery, integration, and analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Coral Reefs in the Anthropocene – Reflecting on 20 Years of Reef Conservation UK
    EDITORIAL published: 12 June 2020 doi: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00364 Editorial: Coral Reefs in the Anthropocene – Reflecting on 20 Years of Reef Conservation UK Dominic A. Andradi-Brown 1*, Anastazia T. Banaszak 2, Thomas K. Frazer 3, Hannah Gilchrist 4, Alastair R. Harborne 5, Catherine E. I. Head 6,7, Heather J. Koldewey 8,9, Emma Levy 8, Kirsty Richards 10, Rebecca Short 11, Michael Sweet 12, Kristian Teleki 13,14, Christian R. Voolstra 15, Bryan Wilson 7, Elizabeth Wood 16, Robert T. Yarlett 17 and David J. Curnick 6 1 Ocean Conservation, World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC, United States, 2 Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, Mexico, 3 School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States, 4 Blue Ventures, Bristol, United Kingdom, 5 Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, North Miami, FL, United States, 6 Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom, 7 Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, 8 Conservation & Policy, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom, 9 Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, United Kingdom, 10 Atmosphere Resorts, Dauin, Philippines, 11 European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro, United Kingdom, 12 Aquatic Research Facility, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, University of Derby, Derby, United Kingdom,
    [Show full text]
  • LEGACY 702 H Street, NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20001 Greenpeacefund.Org Spring 2017
    NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID LANGHORNE, PA PERMIT NO. 114 FUND LEGACY 702 H Street, NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20001 greenpeacefund.org Spring 2017 Newly-Discovered Amazon Reef in Danger Last year, researchers made an announcement that was billed as one of the most significant discoveries in marine science in decades: there is a massive reef stretching over six hundred miles long under the plume of the Amazon River. On January 24th, we left the city of Santana, © Jiri Rezac / Greenpeace Amapá, with a team of Brazilian scientists Greenpeace Oceans and sailed out of the Amazon mouth Director John Hocevar aboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza to Recognized by Charity Navigator explore the reef for the first time. as having demonstrated There was real urgency to our mission, © Greenpeace excellent financial efficiency. as BP, Total, and a Brazilian company planned to begin drilling for oil in the we even arrived at the reef, 100 miles Awarded “Best area. Very little is known about the area, offshore. The Brazilian Navy informed in America Seal” us that we had no authority to dive. by Independent yet decisions were being made that could Charities of put this newly-discovered biome at risk Fortunately, they backed down pretty America. Of before anyone even knew what it looked quickly, and we were ready to begin. I the one million was one of two sub pilots on board, and charities operating like. Our plan was to show the people of in the USA, less Brazil what was at stake, in hopes that brought Dr. Ronaldo Francini-Filho, a than two thousand have been enough of them would want to protect the renowned coral reef ecologist from São awarded this prestigious seal.
    [Show full text]
  • Justice for People and Planet Ending the Age of Corporate Capture, Collusion and Impunity Greenpeace Justice for International People and Planet
    Justice for People and Planet Ending the age of corporate capture, collusion and impunity Greenpeace Justice for International People and Planet Table of Contents Glossary of key terms 5 4. Corporate Accountability Principles 47 Key acronyms 7 1. People and the environment, not corporations, must be at Executive Summary 9 the heart of governance and public life. 47 Chapter 1: Introduction 17 2. Public participation must be inherent to all policy making. 48 1.1 The state of the world 17 3. States should abandon policies that undermine environmental and human rights. 48 1.2 Why change is possible 18 4. Corporations should be subject to binding rules both 1.3 Structure of the report 19 where they are based and where they operate. 49 1.4 Methodology and limitations 19 5. States should require due diligence reporting and cradle to Chapter 2: Corporate impunity is a result of state failures 21 grave responsibility for corporate products and services. 49 2.1 The regulation of corporations: rights for 6. States should promote a race to the top by prohibiting businesses, rules for people 21 corporations from carrying out activities abroad which 2.1.1 The 45-year battle for a binding international instrument 21 are prohibited in their home state for reasons of risks to environmental or human rights. 50 Box 1: Binding national business and human rights laws and proposals 23 7. States should create policies that provide transparency in all corporate and government activities that impact 2.1.2 Corporate law and the purpose of the corporation environmental and human rights, including in trade, tax, to maximise profits 24 finance and investment regimes.
    [Show full text]
  • In Hot Water: the Climate Crisis and the Urgent Need for Ocean Protection
    30X30 IN HOT WATER: THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE URGENT NEED FOR OCEAN PROTECTION Lead author: Richard Page with contributions from David Santillo, Kirsten Thompson, Kathryn Miller, Louisa CONTENTS Casson, Paul Johnston, Taehyun Park and Will McCallum FOREWORD 3 This report includes some material reproduced or KEY FINDINGS 5 adapted from Greenpeace International’s report INTRODUCTION 7 30x30: A Blueprint for Ocean Protection (2019) which is ECOSYSTEMS AT THE FRONT LINE OF THE CLIMATE CRISIS 10 available for download at greenpeace.org/30x30 BLUE CARBON: KEEPING THE PLANET HEALTHY 13 The Earth’s largest carbon sink 13 Inorganic carbon 13 Biological component of ocean carbon 13 Coastal ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems 14 Mangroves 14 Salt marsh 15 Seagrass 16 The connectivity between coastal and offshore ecosystems in the carbon cycle 17 The biological pump 17 Krill and mesopelagic fish—key species in carbon cycling 18 The role of large vertebrates in carbon cycling and sequestration 19 Carbonate pump 21 Storage in deep sea ecosystems 21 THE IMPACTS OF INCREASING FOSSIL FUEL EMISSIONS 23 Climate change 23 Ocean heating 24 Marine heatwaves 24 The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and climate change 25 Increase in severe storms 25 Stronger waves 26 Ice melt 26 Sea level rise 29 Leaving home: Distribution shifts in species and marine ecosystems 32 Climate change and the biological carbon pump 33 Ocean acidification 34 Deoxygenation 36 The polar oceans—feeling the heat 37 The differing impacts of climate change on the polar oceans 37 Climate change impacts
    [Show full text]
  • Total: Oil Exploration Project Threatens Amazon Reef
    Greenpeace Justice for Section International People and Planet Case Studies Total: Oil exploration project threatens Amazon reef Oil and gas company Total proposed a major Endnotes offshore drilling project without performing 1 See website Morningstar, http://investors.morningstar.com/ ownership/shareholders-major.html?t=TOT, accessed on 14-11-2017 adequate due diligence with regard to possible (accessed at 7-12-2017) environmental and human rights impacts. 2 Total S.A. Annual Financial Report 2016 (2016 Registration Document), 2016, p. 123 at http://www.total.com/sites/default/files/ atoms/files/ddr2016_va_web.pdf (accessed at 7-12-2017) Problem Analysis 3 Total S.A. Annual Financial Report 2016 (Form 20-F 2016), p. 1 at In preparing its Environmental Assessment Report in http://www.total.com/sites/default/files/atoms/files/2016_form_20-f_ support of a proposed offshore drilling project in Brazil, web_0.pdf (accessed at 7-12-2017) 4 Total S.A. Annual Financial Report 2016 (2016 Registration Total failed to carry out adequate due diligence with Document), 2016, p. 4 at http://www.total.com/sites/default/files/atoms/ respect to environmental and human rights risks. Because files/ddr2016_va_web.pdf (accessed at 7-12-2017) Total’s application was rejected in Brazil it will not be held accountable for its failure to respect the rights of others. Company activity Total SA engages in discovery, production, processing, Company sale and marketing of energy, largely oil and gas. Activities Company: Total S.A.1 comprise crude oil and natural gas exploration and production, power generation, transportation, refining, Head office: France petroleum product marketing, and international crude oil Subsidiary: and product trading.6 Total E&P do Brasil Ltda (100% ownership) Country and location in which Other companies involved: BP and PETROBAS the violation occurred Company background Brazil, specifically the Amazon mouth region; the French territory of Guiana (impact of potential oil spill); and Stock-listed company France, where the mother company has its HQ.
    [Show full text]
  • Investor Briefing July 2017 Investor Risk from Total's and BP's Plans
    Investor Briefing July 2017 Amazon Reef Investor risk from Total’s and BP’s plans This briefing outlines Total’s and BP’s spill modelling and a number of requests controversial plans to commence deep remain outstanding. On May 3, the water exploration drilling in the Foz de Federal Prosecutor for the State of Amapá Amazonas (the Mouth of the Amazon) - an recommended the suspension of the area of exceptional ecological significance environmental licensing process.3 off the northern coast of Brazil. It highlights Total has called the Mouth of the the risks the companies face as well as Amazon basin “a difficult and challenging concerns regarding their assessment of play.”4 Since the 1970’s, there have been the risk of and response to an oil spill. We 95 attempts to discover oil5 in the Mouth suggest questions investors should ask of the Amazon basin and none have been the companies to understand whether successful. Experts have highlighted the various risks are being adequately that while the region has significant assessed, mitigated, and managed. development opportunities, it also has In May 2013 Total E&P do Brasil Ltd “significant operational hazards”.6 as operator (in a partnership with BP and Given the presence of a newly Petrobras) won licenses for oil exploration photographed and not yet fully at five blocks in the Mouth of the Amazon documented unique reef system in the basin. A BP-Petrobras partnership and Mouth of the Amazon basin, Total and BP’s a Brazilian oil company Queiroz Galvão plans are attracting increasing scrutiny. Exploração e Produção S/A took the other two respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • The Official Magazine of the Oceanography Society
    OceTHE OFFICIALa MAGAZINEn ogOF THE OCEANOGRAPHYra SOCIETYphy CITATION Dybas, C.L. 2016. Ripple marks—The story behind the story. Oceanography 29(3):22–23, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.69. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.69 COPYRIGHT This article has been published in Oceanography, Volume 29, Number 3, a quarterly journal of The Oceanography Society. Copyright 2016 by The Oceanography Society. All rights reserved. USAGE Permission is granted to copy this article for use in teaching and research. Republication, systematic reproduction, or collective redistribution of any portion of this article by photocopy machine, reposting, or other means is permitted only with the approval of The Oceanography Society. Send all correspondence to: [email protected] or The Oceanography Society, PO Box 1931, Rockville, MD 20849-1931, USA. DOWNLOADED FROM HTTP://TOS.ORG/OCEANOGRAPHY Ripple Marks The Story Behind the Story BY CHERYL LYN DYBAS Coral Reef Discovered in an Unlikely Locale: The Amazon River’s Freshwater Plume Where is one of the last places on Earth with coral reefs, says lead paper author The reef forms a coral complex that scientists would look for a new coral reef? Rodrigo Moura, also of Brazil’s UFRJ. reaches depths of 10 to 120 meters. Its Perhaps the mouth of the Amazon River, How was the reef discovered? Scientists calcareous algae, sponges, corals, and where huge freshwater outflows meet the from nine institutions recently conducted hydrocoral colonies have existed for Atlantic Ocean. But that’s exactly where an expedition to the mouth of the Amazon as long as 13,000 years, and provide researchers found a thriving reef complex.
    [Show full text]
  • Air-Sea CO2 Flux in an Equatorial Continental Shelf Dominated By
    Continental Shelf Research 204 (2020) 104175 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Continental Shelf Research journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/csr Air-sea CO2 fluxin an equatorial continental shelf dominated by coral reefs (Southwestern Atlantic Ocean) Luiz C. Cotovicz Jr. *, Raisa Chielle, Rozane Valente Marins Instituto de Ci^encias do Mar (LABOMAR), Universidade Federal do Ceara,� Fortaleza, Ceara,� Brazil ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Coral reefs are ecosystems highly vulnerable to changes in seawater carbonate chemistry, including those related Carbon dioxide to the ocean acidification and global warming. Brazilian coral reefs contains the major area of reefs coverage in Carbonate system the Southwestern (SW) Atlantic Ocean, however, studies aimed at investigating the controls of seawater car­ Coral reefs bonate chemistry in coral reefs are still overlooked in Brazil. This study comprehends the first investigation of Equatorial continental shelf complete seawater carbonate chemistry parameters in a section of the equatorial continental shelf dominated by Southwestern atlantic ocean coral reefs in the SW Atlantic Ocean. The sampling included spatial continuous underway measurements of sea surface CO2 fugacity (fCO2sw), temperature (SST), salinity (SSS), and discrete investigations of total alkalinity - 2À (TA), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), bicarbonate (HCO3), carbonate (CO3 ), and saturation state of aragonite (Ωara). The study was conducted during a dry period (July-2019) in the Marine State Park of Pedra da Risca do Meio (PRM), a marine protected area dominated by coral reef communities. Overall, the coral-reef dominated 2À waters presented higher values of fCO2sw (475 � 28 μatm), and lower values of pHT (7.98 � 0.008), CO3 (217 -1 � 5 μmol kg ) and Ωara (3.49 � 0.07), compared to nearshore regions without the influenceof coral reef waters, 2À where the averages of fCO2sw, pHT, CO3 , and Ωarawere, respectively, 458 � 21 μatm, 8.00 � 0.007, 224 � 4 μmol kg-1, and 3.58 � 0.05.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring the Biodiversity of Understudied Benthic Taxa at Mesophotic and Deeper Depths: Examples from the Order Zoantharia (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia)
    fmars-06-00305 June 15, 2019 Time: 17:44 # 1 ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 18 June 2019 doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00305 Exploring the Biodiversity of Understudied Benthic Taxa at Mesophotic and Deeper Depths: Examples From the Order Zoantharia (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) James Davis Reimer1,2*, Hiroki Kise1, Maria E. A. Santos1, Dhugal John Lindsay3,4, Richard L. Pyle5, Joshua M. Copus6, Brian W. Bowen6, Masanori Nonaka7, Takuo Higashiji7 and Yehuda Benayahu8 1 Molecular Invertebrate Systematics and Ecology Laboratory, Graduate School of Engineering and Science, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Japan, 2 Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Japan, 3 Advanced Science-Technology Research (ASTER) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan, 4 Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, School of Marine Bioscience, Kitasato University, Sagamihara, Japan, 5 Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI, United States, 6 Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Kaneohe, HI, United States, 7 Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Okinawa Churashima Foundation, Motobu, Japan, 8 Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Edited by: Johannes F. Imhoff, Research on so-called “minor taxa” at mesophotic depths has lagged behind that of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany more commonly researched groups such as fish or hard corals. Exemplar taxa include Reviewed by: species of the order Zoantharia, benthic colonial anemones that are cosmopolitan in Cristina Dorador, distribution but understudied in many ecoregion and ecosystems. In this study, we University of Antofagasta, Chile Atoosa Noori Koupaei, examine the results of rare mesophotic to deep sea surveys (one rebreather, one Islamic Azad University, Iran remotely operated submersible (ROV) C net survey, two ROV surveys) from Japan *Correspondence: and Israel.
    [Show full text]
  • 4Th INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP on TAXONOMY of ATLANTO-MEDITERRANEAN DEEP-SEA & CAVE SPONGES
    4th INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON TAXONOMY OF ATLANTO-MEDITERRANEAN DEEP-SEA & CAVE SPONGES 10-15 September 2018 Station Marine d’Endoume, Marseille 4th International Workshop on Taxonomy of Atlanto-Mediterranean Deep-Sea & Cave Sponges 2018 PROGRAM MON, 10th September 09h00 – 09h30 BIENVENUE! WELCOME! 09h30 – 10h00 Jean Vacelet Sponges of underwater caves 10h00 – 10h30 Linnet Busutil Cuban Mesophotic Reef Sponges: Challenges, Novelties, and Opportunities – Part I: Major habitats and Haplosclerida (Demospongiae) diversity 10h30 – 11h00 Coffee-break & Installation of posters 11h00 – 11h30 María Cristina Díaz Cuban Mesophotic Reef Sponges: Challenges, Novelties, and Opportunities – Part II: Demospongiae, Homosclerophorida, and Calcarea Diversity 11h30 – 12h00 Tal Idan Discovering local diversity hot spots: the community structure of four East-Mediterranean mesophotic sponge grounds 12h00 – 13h30 Lunch 13h30 – 17h30 Taxonomy session Round Table on World Porifera Database (WPD): Nicole Boury-Esnault 18h30 – 20h30 “Aperitif Marseillais” (welcome drink) 2 4th International Workshop on Taxonomy of Atlanto-Mediterranean Deep-Sea & Cave Sponges 2018 TUE, 11th September 09h00 – 09h30 Joseph Botting Taxonomy in deep time: palaeontological evidence for unexpected character evolution in sponge stem groups 09h30 – 10h00 Paco Cárdenas Surface microstructures of sterraster spicules, a new character for genera discrimination in the Geodiidae (Demospongiae), with remarks on sterraster fossils 10h00 – 10h30 Coffee-break & Posters 10h30 – 11h00 Astrid Shuster
    [Show full text]